Wings of Chaos
by DemonoftheRoundTable
Summary: The winds of war have returned to Remnant, as the demon once again turns its attention to the world. Now, the keepers of peace must take to the sky and bring an end to the bloodshed. Will they be able to change history for the better or will war once again ravage the world they call home? Ace Combat!AU
1. Prologue

**Here it is! The fruit of over a month of work! Huzzah!**

 **With the help of my new found friend, /u/Karmahhhhh on Reddit, we have** **successfully merged RWBY with Ace Combat! Thankfully, he and I got along wonderfully and saw eye to eye on many details, making it easy to come up with the plot. That of which will remain a secret for the time being (unless you've played Ace Combat games in the past, then you know where this will be going).**

 **This is the prologue, and later tonight we will upload chapter one. These chapter updates will be weekly or every two weeks, depending on our schedules.**

 **Now sit back, relax and enjoy the prologue to our collab fic, Wings of Chaos!**

* * *

 _A demon strikes, as hunters rise to fight back._

 _Only for both to fall under a wing of chaos._

 _Mortals rise, to rebuild and rejoice._

 _With wings they'll soar, until the demon comes back for more._

 _The cycle repeats…_

Worlds are shaped by crisis and conflict. The world of Remnant is no different.

Not long ago, the world had born witness to an outstanding era of peace and prosperity. Natural Resources were being discovered faster than anyone could dig them up, and nations began to set aside their differences. Everything that could go right, did.

For a moment, anyway.

A few years had past, and the large, industrial nation of Atlas had begun to wear out. They mined too greedily into their own mountains, their government making one big political mistake after another. Their economy collapsed under the lack of infrastructure. Soon after the collapse, Atlas began to permit other nations to buy territories that seemed useless; mountainous regions that provided natural borders for the nation.

Not soon after did the Atlasians learn that this was a huge mistake once again. Within these mountains, more natural resources; iron, oil, highly rare elements, all were discovered within their former lands. Once news of these discoveries reached the Atlasian public, the streets began to fill with riot and protest.

The current government had to go.

A coup d'etat was soon formed, and in less than a day Atlas had changed hands. The military took over, promising their nation that they would be brought out of the economic strife, and they would get back their lands. The new government, these "Generals" had ordered for total militarization. Their industry had boomed, and while it looked, to the world, that Atlas was coming back, it just wasn't so.

In less than two years since the "Generals" took over, they ordered a surprise attack, forcibly taking back their lands from the other countries. These mountains still maintained massive veins of natural resources that Atlas had craved for.

It wasn't enough for the new leaders of Atlas. The Generals wanted everything.

The Atlasian military had grown to unimaginable strength, and the order was given to continue past the mountains and into the surrounding nations. In only a few months, the smaller counties now stood under an Atlasian flag.

Alone, nothing could stand to the legendary strength that Atlas had built up. But united, they stood a chance. Three alliances rose to challenge the monster that threatened to destroy them all. With their backs to the wall, the trio dug in their heels and pushed back. The Atlasian army, overexerted and spread to thin, began to suffer heavy losses. The people forced under the flag of Atlas were liberated as quickly as they were conquered, and the invaders driven back to their original borders.

But the war was not over. Not without a single act of desperation to protect their homeland. On the final push into the heart of Atlas, five nuclear detonations tore through the mountains, leaving the surrounding armies to watch in stunned horror as the great kingdom sealed itself from the world.

Those who stood to liberate now found themselves as the aggressors, and vowed to throw down their weapons. Remnant had returned to peace, but at an astronomical cost.

But as Remnant began to rebuild, it soon fell under a much worse fate.

An earthquake of apocalyptic proportion was felt across the world, and destruction had returned to the planet. Millions perished, cities were destroyed, and the countries that weren't crushed overnight soon fell into anarchy.

The ground shook for days, fires burned for weeks, and ash rained for months. After the dust had finally settled, only a handful of the past nations remained.

This event became known as the Tarraemotus Disaster.

The survivors consolidated under four banners. The Union of Vacuan Republics, Principality of Mistral, The Atlasian Monarchy and The Democratic Republic of Vale all rose to challenge this new world.

Even after twenty-three years, the four nations continue to rebuild after Tarraemotus. However, as resources continue to grow scarce from the reconstruction, tensions grow tighter with each passing year. Technology continues to advance, and guardians are trained to protect their flag.

Although sooner or later, even a guardian is forced to turn into a warrior.

 _"Command Room to Crow Squadron, we have leakers, aircraft unknown. Crossing the border at Cape Basket bearing two-eight-seven to three-two-zero."_

After all, worlds are shaped by crisis and conflict.

The world of Remnant is no different.

* * *

 **Chapter one will be upload later tonight.**

 **See you then!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Demon: This is the first official chapter for Wings of Chaos. Here… Ah hell, why spoil it? Go read for yourself and find out!**

 **We'll have a message from our friendly neighborhood Karma after these messages… er… after this chapter, at least.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

In the sky, the captain was trying to get the rest of his training team into his view as well as on his radar. He was howling at the earth below.

"Give me a break, I'm babysitting nuggets up here!"

"Command Room to Crow Squadron," a voice called back on the radio, "We have leakers, aircraft unknown. Crossing the border at Cape Basket bearing two-eight-seven to three-two-zero. Captain Qrow, your flight is the only one close enough to make the intercept."

"Damnit." The captain, Qrow, had only that as a retort to the ground. They were already disorganized as is, having the entire flight of twelve nuggets, which was the term for trainee pilots, attempting to form up. "Alright, Barker, Lenom go take the trail position and stay close! The three of us will fly high and engage. Everyone else, stay low and out of the fight."

There was a collective roger from everyone in the flight group. Qrow, Barker and Lenom all climbed above the clouds, whilst the rest stayed low to the ocean.

The trio waited.

They watched their radar, then the sky, then the radar again. The machine didn't tell them the altitude of the unknowns.

Closer they got, yet, the bandits were still out of view.

Until…

"What the-!" A panicked voice called over the radio, "Bandits! Dead ahead! Flying low! They're firi-" The voice was cut off by static and a boom.

"Kline is down!" Another voice called. This voice belonged to none other than Ruby Rose, "They're firing on us! Engaging!"

"Hold on down there, we're coming!" Qrow called desperately. Flying from four-thousand feet to 1000 feet was an easy task, yet still took time. And in a very short amount of time anything can happen.

And things did happen…

All while diving to intercept, Qrow saw blip after blip on his radar disappear. Flying through the clouds, he saw four MiG 21's engaging his force of nuggets. Locking on, he gave the order. "All Aircraft still up, engage!"

With that, they all started to fight back. It was now seven to four, five nuggets having been shot down. One nugget was being chased down by two of the unknown craft. A radar warning alerted the rookie to begin banking to evade. The more experienced pilots, however, wouldn't fall for it, and kept both radar and visual lock.

"I've got him." Said one of the pilots. Thumb over the button, he waited for the nugget to break his turn before firing, fearing a miss. When he leveled out, the unknown chuckled, until bullets began to fly past his cockpit. He turned quickly to evade the fire.

"Crow nine, this is Crow five, I've got your back. Break off and help someone else." The pilot of Crow five, Blake Belladonna, grabbed the attention of both of the unknown pilots, who were once going after the other nugget. Now, they were after her.

Blake was chasing one, knowing full well the pilot she fired on earlier had gotten behind her. She wasn't going for the kill on the one in front; rather, she was playing a game of chicken with the one in back.

Ruby saw her ally being trailed from above, admiring for a moment the pilot's amazing skill. 'That's a recruit and they're flying like that?' She thought. Before she could give it another thought, she dove to engage the chasing plane. Said plane noticed it had Ruby in its sights and broke off. The one in front of Blake did the same.

Ruby flew up next to Blake, tipped her wing in salute, and banked back into the fight. Blake took a sigh of relief, then did the same.

All of Qrow's remaining nuggets had engaged, though most took to avoiding maneuvers, weaving through the missiles. A slim few had fired upon the unknowns, Qrow and his other instructors, Barker and Lenom, lead the charge. Blake, Ruby and another joined them. With the tables turned the unknown leader gave the order and the force retreated.

"Do we follow?" Ruby asked, eager for vengeance for her fallen comrades.

"Negative!" Ground Control shot back harshly, "Do not follow, do not engage any further! We don't want an incident on our hands."

"Are you crazy!" A wild, angry voice challenged. This one belonged to Ruby's older sister, Yang Xiao Long, "We already have an incident here! They fired on us! We should go get them!"

"It's alright, sis," Ruby pleaded, "Let's just go home.

"They're fleeing damnit, we can take them! The have to be low on ammo-"

"Xiao Long, cut the chatter and disengage now!" Even Qrow was yelling back at Yang now. "What if they still have a few missiles!? You go out there and they will rip you to shreds! Disengage!"

Yang finally relented, Qrow had a point. "Alright... Let's go."

The trainee force turned around and fled the combat zone, just like the unknown force. Their base, however, wasn't as far as their enemies was. In short time, Qrow's force made it to Patch, their small "oasis" as they joked. It was nothing more than a small military base, far off the coast of Vale. It was the country's only permanent line of defense on their western flank. The only other thing was their navy, and only one port on the entire west side.

* * *

The nuggets all landed, leaving Qrow for last. He always took off first, and landed last, just so he could see how his trainees did.

He landed and taxied his craft towards the hangers. He met the ground crews halfway, and turned his craft off. He flew an old F4E Phantom. A multirole fighter from twenty-five years ago. Yes it was obsolete, but he enjoyed it. He could fly it, at least. He was so used to it that he figured if he's just training recruits, why should it matter?

The crew took his craft to stay idle with the other nuggets. Qrow climbed out, meeting his two nieces, Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. "Well," he sighed, "You got your first look at combat."

"Yeah," Yang said, rubbing the back of her head, "Yeah we did."

"You both handled yourselves very well. You easily could have been one of our six nuggets who went down, but instead you took initiative and fought back. Not very smart to the top brass, but very smart to a soldier."

"Thanks." Ruby said, bowing her head slightly. "I guess we should go in?"

"Right." Qrow sighed. To say he was upset was an understatement. A total of six trainees had been shot down during the engagement. All of the nuggets he sent to the area below were in the way of the bogeys, all because the ground had misplaced some zeroes, and hadn't informed Qrow of their altitude.

"Hey, Uncle Qrow," Ruby called, "Did you see that fighter in the number five aircraft? She was amazing!"

"Yeah, I couldn't bare to watch." He huffed, turning around harshly towards the number five craft, "Belladonna! You keep flying like that you'll die real soon!"

The pilot, Blake Belladonna, only stood by her aircraft. Her response was quiet, "I won't die yet, sir." She had been the one to call out the enemy combatants over the radio. She even took initiative and distracted two of them, causing them to chase her away from the fight. How she got out alive, even she wondered.

"Really now?" Qrow asked, shaking his head, "You look like you couldn't even harm a damn bug." He sighed, shaking his head as he walked away, leaving both Ruby and Yang behind. The two sisters stared at Blake, neither saying a word. Until Ruby began to walk towards her.

"Hey," she called, "Belladonna, right?"

"Call me Blake."

"Alright." Ruby extended a hand, "I'm-"

"Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long." Blake interrupted, accepting Ruby's hand shake, "You'd have to find the newest of recruits to the oasis to find someone who doesn't know who you two are."

"Wow, I guess we have a reputation." Yang chuckled.

"If you mean having your father and uncle both working on the island, then yes you do." Both girls blushed a little. They hadn't realized that their father, Taiyang, had been very open about about having both of his daughters at the island. If anything, it was probably a bid to get either of them on a date with his maintenance crews, which he's tried before.

Taiyang, who flew with Qrow in the previous war, was done flying combat; yet wasn't done flying. So, instead of fully retiring he now flies freight for the maintenance. Both he and Qrow are the very reason that Ruby and Yang chose to be fighter pilots, and given their family's history with the air force, they were given rather special treatment from the higher ups. Allowing them to be trained by their uncle was enough, but having their father on island was an added bonus.

"So you've talked to the old man, I see." Yang rubbed the back of her head, "Sorry about him."

"Oh he's not so bad. In all honesty he was more advice rather than random chatter." Blake admonished.

"That's new." Ruby said.

"Yeah. Normally he's either bragging about us or trying to convince maintenance to go out with one of us."

"Which one from the maintenance crew?" Blake asked curiously.

"Yes." Both sisters replied in unison, giving Blake all the information she needed in the subject. The trio laughed the comment off and began to march back to the hanger. "So," Ruby began, "I guess we have to be debriefed now?"

"After we changed out of this, sis." Yang said, throwing her hands behind her head. Ruby nodded and turned to Blake.

"So, do you always fly with your bow on?"

Blake was taken aback. She had completely forgotten that she was wearing her bow. She was also surprised how well it held up during the flight. "Actually," Yang started before Blake could respond, "What's with that bow? I know some people who wear one to hold their hair up in the helmet, but-"

"It's nothing," Blake said, "I use it like that, but I pulled my hair out of the bow when I took my helmet off." The lie seemed to work, as both girls nodded. They continued walking, getting ever closer to the main prep building, which housed the locker room. As they approached the door, the trio heard a rescue helicopter approach and saw an ambulance (which was nothing more than a small cart with a flat back for the medics) run to the emergency landing, just outside of the bases infirmary.

Ruby looked on, hope in her eyes, "I wonder if they were able to pluck anyone out of the ocean?"

"I'm not sure…" Blake said, "I didn't see anyone bail out… But I guess we have to be hopeful, right?" The sisters agreed, then entered the main facility.

The base, considering it's location, was pretty well kept. The runway's had obviously taken up a good portion of the island's southern end. Two six-thousand foot strips of concrete was all they needed. In the northwestern end of the island sat eight hangers. Hangers one through six were main combat hangers, holding jets, fuel, ammo, tools, everything under the sun. Hanger seven held Taiyang's training jets. He used them specifically for brand new pilots, or officers looking to become pilots, could learn. Hanger eight was reserved for the maintenance crews. Every tool, every last thing Taiyang brought in from his supply trips to the mainland was held here. Even mail was stored until someone could get on it.

On the northeastern side was the main facility. The locker rooms were close to the hangers, on the farthest side of the facility. Past that was four briefing rooms (which is self explanatory). Past that was a crossroads; a hallway that split into three sections. To go to the northern hallway would take you to administrations. To go south would take you to personnelle area: crew quarters, lounge and infirmary.

And that was the Island of Patch. A small military base in the middle of the ocean on the western side of Vale.

One by one they enterned. Before closing the door, Yang got a peak at whoever was on the stretcher in the rescue copter. All she saw was a pale female with semi-long, white as snow hair wrapped in a yellow blanket, which indicated that she had been in the water, be pulled into the medical vehicle. "Hey," Yang called, "Did we have anyone in the squad with white hair?"

"Other than uncle Qrow?" Ruby called back, finally getting her flight suit unzipped.

"That's silver, Ruby." Yang sighed, "And no, I mean cloud white." Both Ruby and Blake looked to each other, then to Yang and shook their heads. Neither of them remembered someone like that, nor could Yang remember another female in the training squad. 'Though, it was a larger force today,' the blonde thought, 'She might have been with another instructor before...' She shook the thought from her mind and began to change.

It took her a moment to get completely changed, something that Ruby had grown accustomed to since they were kids. Blake, however, wondered how long it would've been for her. Ruby kept assuring her it wouldn't be too long.

The trio eventually made it out of the locker room and moved to be debriefed. However, a note on the door told them to return after dinner, that the debriefing won't happen. All three shrugged, but moved on.

"Let's go get some food!" Yang stated, "I'm starving!"

"You're always hungry, Yang."

"It's easy to be when you're me, sis!"

All three made it to the cafeteria, but were saddened to see a lack of pilots. So many hadn't returned…

"I wonder what this means…" Ruby said under her breath, "Are we at war now?"

"I hope not. Maybe this was just a misunderstanding?" Blake reasoned.

Yang wanted to comment, but knew it wasn't her place to. Ruby wouldn't have wanted to hear what she had to say, and Yang wasn't sure where Blake stood on the topic yet. All three moved to get their food and sit down. No one wanted to comment on the previous events. Instead, they began small talk.

"So," Blake started, "Tell me something about yourselves."

Both sisters looked at each other, but Ruby gave the speaking floor to Yang. "Well, Ruby and I grew up with the military. Born and raised on bases all over Vale, after a while we start playing with flight simulators on base and found we were quite good at it."

"It was all just a game to us." Ruby piped.

"Right. Not soon after did we get recommended to be pilots. After a few years of officer training, here we are!" Yang finished, keeping her arms spread open for dramatic effect.

"Grew up with the military?" Blake pondered out loud, "Your whole family?"

"Yeah, Qrow, our father and mothers were all in the Air Force!" Yang said, "So Ruby and I both had a bit of motivation when we made this decision."

"Mothers? Plural?"

Ruby and Yang shared a glance, but once again Yang took over, "It's a long story. Another time." She assured, "How about you? Tell us something about you, now."

Blake took a drink, then began "I grew up in Vale's capital city, Vytal. After high school I couldn't figure out what to do with myself, so I joined the military. Vale's Air Force caught my eye, and after some time, here I am." She chuckled, "It was a challenge. They've been reducing numbers for some time, but I guess they found a reason to accept me."

"So what about that bow?" Yang asked, keeping up her question from earlier. She earned a sharp glance from Ruby, telling her to drop the subject, but Yang wouldn't. The blonde knew her sister wanted to know just as much as her.

Blake looked up, surprised, but never got a word out. "It doesn't matter why she's wearing the bow, Yang." Ruby said, "So what if she wants to accessorize with her uniform?"

"Because, Ruby, that's the point of a _uniform_!" Yang argued, "Everyone is supposed to look the _same_!" Blake watched on as the sisters argued. It was interesting to say the least. Classic sibling verbal confrontation that she was sure their family had seen time and again. Off the corner of her eye, however, she saw the adjutant base commander, Captain Mercury Black, step in. He locked eyes with the arguing sisters and began to walk over to them.

"Captain Black." Blake called loudly so the sisters would hear her. They turned back, saw the captain, then rose to attention.

"Second Lieutenants Rose, Xiao Long and Belladonna. At ease." All three took a seat, "I came to let you all know that there will be no debriefing for you, at all. Please remain silent about out little war out there. Also, at nineteen hundred hours tonight we want you and the remaining trainees to report to briefing room one. Am I understood?" All three nodded, "Very good. Enjoy your lunch."

He turned to leave, but stopped halfway and glanced back, "Oh, Rose, Xiao Long… What were you both fighting about this time?"

Yang sighed, "Nothing, sir. Just the average sisterly fight."

He chuckled, "So glad I'm an only child. Carry on." With that he left the room. The trio took a sigh of relief, as they feared the argument had gotten negative attention from the higher ups (as Ruby and Yang were so used to, by this point in their lives).

"At least Black is kind enough not to bust us down to sergeant as 'his highness' loves to threaten." Ruby sighed, burying her face into her hands.

"Ah, top brass are all the same." Yang stated easily. "Come on, let's finish up. We have only four hours before the next briefing."

* * *

"I'm sorry sir! But you just can't see her yet!" The on-base physician pleaded, "She's been out there for who knows how long! She's in no position to move, let alone answer questions!"

The white-haired pilot listened intently from her infirmary bed, trying to get an idea what was going on. She knew where she was, but was denied any meds until she answered some questions. The physician, however, was having none of that, and fighting to get her some painkillers. Actually, he was fighting to get her anything.

"I don't care of her condition! If she's conscious, she can talk! Now move out of my way, or I'll have the MP's here arrest you!"

"You can't arrest me, I'm one of the three _only_ doctors you have on this island!"

"Fine then. Detain him!"

A short scuffle was heard from outside, with many vocal threats from the physician about reporting the man for 'cruel and unusual punishment', along with a few other crimes. The pilot couldn't make everything out, though. Right after the doctors' cries had dissipated, the door opened, revealing a fairly large man in his Air Force blue's. Behind him were two more MP's, armed with semi-automatic weapons.

'Geez,' the pilot thought, 'what does he think I'm going to do here?'

"First Lieutenant Weiss Schnee of the Atlasian Air Force." Weiss looked up from her bed and swallowed saliva, "My name is Colonel Port, Commander of the Island base of Patch, which you have been brought to." Port leaned in close, "Now… How in the world did you end up here?"

* * *

 **/u/Karmahhhhh - Welp, after a month of planning, writing and knife fights about who is best girl ( _Demon: Ruby_ ), the AC!AU is up! Discovered DemonLordB7R while browsing reddit, and was quickly met with a "COLLAB NAOW" message. Welcome to the result of that caps-locked PM ( _You don't even know_ ).**

 **Demon- Now, we're here and ready to pump out the best damn piece of fiction literature we've ever written, let alone seen. Karma stepped out for a moment or two ( _I just went AFK, promise_ ), so I'm gonna take over for now.**

 **So what did you think? Was chapter one good? Bad? So-So? We'd both like to hear feedback to try to make this the best it could possibly be, so don't hold back!**

 **Next chapter we'll see what happened to Weiss and have a bit more action from our main team. Until then, thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, and of course:**

 **Until Next Time.**


	3. Chapter 2

**We're back with chapter 2 of Wings of Chaos!**

 **Sorry for the delay, but both of us had a busy week. We'll try to push the next one out a bit quicker.**

 **Until then, thanks for all of the reviews! We've read everything and taken everyone's thoughts and opinions into consideration. Both Karma and I are listening to you, and we thank you for telling us your thoughts.**

 **Also, catch the OC of this chapter! Compliments of Karma!**

 **We hope you enjoy, and we hope everyone had a Happy Memorial Day!**

* * *

"Colonel Port, was it?" Weiss asked, keeping her cool. The mustached man stared down on her, glaring through his glasses. "Allow me to explain... On one condition..." He raised an eyebrow quizzically, "You close the door, and keep both guards outside."

"I'll close the door but at least one of my MP friends here has to stay."

"Fine." Weiss accepted, knowing it was better than letting the entire infirmary listen to her. "Pull up a chair, this is going to take a while."

Port did so, ordering one of the guards outside and closed the door. He sat next to the bedridden pilot. He gestured for her to begin.

"Right. As you know, I am Atlasian. I know, when you hear that you think 'Madman' or 'Bloodthirsty', or 'War driven'. Well, not all of us are. The new generation of Atlasians have accepted our defeat from the war twenty-five years ago. Our parents may not have, but we do... I digress. My father, as you probably know, is the top ace in the Atlasian Air Force." Port nodded at the fact. The Schnee family has been in the military, fighting for their country for decades. Regardless of who they fought for, the reason was the same:

Honor.

"To get to that position, my father made... enemies... He was great to his trainees, although a bit reluctantly with faunus..." She held a bit of malice to the last word. "They're all bad, you know. No good trouble. I'm amazed our militaries accepts those... beasts."

Port sighed heavily, "I know you're feeling as I feel the same. However, man power in the military is man power and we're not going to deny anyone who wishes to serve. Now, if you don't mind, please continue your story."

Weiss gulped, "Right. Well, my father wanted me to lead the last mission I was just on... It was just a patrol near the water. We've gotten reports of odd sights, you know? We were sent to make sure nothing was wrong." She sighed, "Seven of us went in... One came out..." She turned to Port, "I can't go back. They'll kill me."

"Who will, girl?"

"Adler Schwarz. An Ace in Atlas, and my father's rival. Always living in his shadow, Schwarz had enough, I guess. They ambushed us... I lead all of my father's men to their deaths..." She began to choke up, until Port stepped in.

"Calm down, child," He beckoned, putting a firm hand on one of Weiss' shoulders, "Start from the beginning."

* * *

Kalte Schnee. The top scoring Ace in all of Atlas. Fighting for honor and integrity, he now flew as a flight instructor for new pilots. Since the war, he had trained over seventy four pilots personally, teaching each one how to fly, fight, win, all with honor. That was his motto.

When the war ended, he and his wife had chosen to settle down, and build a family. First, came Weiss. After two years, another girl, Winter. Kalte always stated with a hearty laugh "I always fought with my men, I guess the Gods on high thought I should live civilian life with some women." He wasn't upset, he loved his daughters. Especially when Weiss made the decision to be a pilot, just like her father.

Kalte had retired from active duty, but so long as his military needed him to train new pilots, he would. The Schnee family lived on bases all around Atlas, making any relationship with anyone impossible. The military was his family's life just as much as his. Weiss had witnessed flying first hand and loved it. The sky was hers. Kalte even had her run the show on base every now and again, cracking the metaphorical whip on his recruits and other on-base personnel. Winter hated the military, she hated moving. She hated flying. But Weiss was military at heart.

When she made her decision, Kalte had decided to put in for retirement for _after_ Weiss' graduation into the air force. "It's time for the next generation to take the mantle." He would say, "Us old folk have to move aside, as our parents did. And their parents before them." Weiss was honored, truly.

One month. That's all they had. Kalte Schnee's trainees, the best of the best, one month before becoming official pilots. Kalte, wanting his daughter to take his mantle of leadership, personally trained her to be a leader; though never let her lead the squad...

Until this very day…

* * *

"C'mon princess, wake up! We got work to do!"

The ever-so unpleasant voice of her roommate quickly jolted Weiss awake. Briefly opening her eyes, she stared face to face with another pilot assigned to Schnee squadron.

Rolling over and away from the nuisance and shutting her eyes once more, Weiss was only met with a constant kicking against her bunk. "Go away Vanille, we don't have any flights scheduled for today, and I would very much like catch up on my sleep."

After that remark Weiss soon found not only herself, but her mattress as well, on the floor with a tall, pale woman standing over her.

"Up and at 'em Schnee! Yer old man's waiting for us in the briefing room, and he's expecting us in 15 minutes!" As her roommate gleefully ran off, Weiss stared in awe at the audacity of this girl. _"How can she be so energetic and happy at the thought of flying at… how early even is it?"_ At this point, Weiss realized that the morning sun wasn't burning into her eyes as usual.

When the clock was no longer a blur in her vision, Weiss had read 0500 hours.

"Why the hell are we being woken up at five in the morning!? We were on a flight not three hours ago!"

"Because we finally got a bloody mission!" Vanille yelled,

"Would you quiet down? You'll wake up the whole damn barracks!" Weiss was fuming at this point. "And what do you mean we have a mission!?"

It was pointless though, she had already disappeared. Probably heading for the briefing room.

Groggily standing, she made her way over to the bathroom to wake herself up. After splashing cold water on her face, Weiss saw just how much of a wreck she was in the mirror. Being in the air force, she expected to have to be up at god awful hours, but that didn't make her a morning person. The room wasn't a pretty sight either, fluorescent lighting, dull grey everything, standard utilitarian barracks now with a wrecked bed on the floor.

Opening up her locker, Weiss began to don her flight suit just as she had hundreds of times in the past. Grabbing her helmet and a glass of water, she made her way down the hallway towards the hangar assigned to Schnee Squadron.

For such an early time, the base was unusually active. Several helicopters could be heard flying over, and the ever so familiar smell of jet exhaust filled the air. Out the window, a line of eight MiG-31 Foxhounds eased their way down the taxi lane. Their deep black and red paint scheme, coupled with the sickening medusa emblem gave them away as Schwarz Team, a band of immoral pilots looking for nothing but cash.

Scoffing at the ugly aircraft, Weiss made her way further down the hall and into the briefing room. Inside sat the rest of her wing, along with her father and mentor, Lieutenant Colonel Kalte Schnee.

Turning to Weiss, his own icy blue eyes met hers. "Nice of you to finally join us, Marmor please fill her in on the previous details. Now…"

Sitting down, Weiss was quickly skimmed through her wingwoman's notes. Nothing was out of the ordinary. They would be flying their usual aircraft in standard formation, armed with an air-to-air load out.

"At approximately Zero-Four-Hundred today, our radars began to pick up a large anomaly out at sea. At first, we thought it was a bird migration, but it appears to be loitering around above the sea. We're the only available squadron with flight experience, so we're going to investigate." He turned around to face his team. Seven pilots, including himself, made up Schnee Team. His wingman, the number seven craft, was Weiss Schnee, his own daughter.

"Any questions?" He asked. It was a pretty straightforward mission, so he wasn't surprised to see too many hands up. There was one, though. Weiss' hand.

"Are we clear to engage if we find anything?"

"Only if fired upon first." He more ordered than answered. "Anything else?" The rest of the crew shook their heads, signaling full understanding. "Good. Schnee, stay here for a moment. The rest of you, load up!"

As Weiss walked over to her mentor, his expression seemed to change. Typically Kalte Schnee radiated with confidence and pride, but now his face wore a mask of doubt. The young pilot even began to question this mission. Why are Kalte's trainees being sent to check out a radar discrepancy? Risks in national security are usually taken much more seriously.

"Is something wrong, father?" Weiss became concerned with her leaders sudden change in expression.

"That's exactly the problem," His voice was now a solemn whisper, nearly overpowered by the ticking of the rooms clock. "This mission doesn't seem right, but we can't necessarily turn it down either. This briefing came directly from the General…"

"What are you worried about?"

"I don't know, darling…" Kalte sighed, "Enough of that, though. It's just an old man's paranoia getting to him. Weiss," he turned to face his daughter, "You do know how proud you have made me, right?"

Weiss looked to her father, concern in her eyes, "Yeah… What are you…"

"Weiss, listen to me. I have trained you personally to be as good of a leader as I once was. Today, I want you to prove to me what you can do." Weiss looked at him, wide eyed, "I'll switch positions with you and let you handle this operation."

Weiss was baffled, dumbfounded even. Kalte had let her be the flight lead other times in the past, but always had it planned. This was completely impromptu, which was the reason for Weiss' surprise. "F-father… are you sure?"

Kalte smiled, "More sure than I've been in my life. Now come on, let's go show those Schwarz guys how real pilots fly."

Weiss nodded as they exited the room. The duo made their way to the hanger where they found the squad at attention next to their planes, which were currently being taxied to the runway.

"Gentlemen!" Kalte called, "Oh… and ladies… Sorry Marmor," Vanille nodded it off, "Are we ready to fly?" All pilots nodded. "Good. Weiss will be taking over as flight lead today. You _will_ obey her commands as you would me. Clear?"

"Clear!" His trainees shouted in unison.

"Good! Load up!" The trainees entered their respective aircraft as the maintenance crews helped the pilots get situated. The sun was barely breaking over the horizon when they finally got lined up to take off. Weiss, being the flight lead, was up first. Not far behind her was each other aircraft. Weiss put her bearings to one-six-zero, per the ground controls orders, and headed west.

* * *

All seven aircraft were up. Their base was strategically placed in the mountains from the last war and had been used in service ever since. The installation itself was all tunnels and a runway on the outside. Very intricate, hard to find, which made it a must have for the military to keep in use.

Weiss led her father's trainees west, towards the coastline where the disturbance was discovered. It was a mostly cloudy morning, with the sun just looming over the horizon. The few breaks in the cloud line had given off an absolutely beautiful view; rays of light poured through the gaps in the sky and onto the earth. From above, it was majestic.

"Schnee seven," Vanille called over the radio, "Look at that view, eh? Beautiful."

"Yeah…" Weiss affirmed, "It really is."

"Schnee six, Schnee seven! Cut the chatter!" Kalte shouted. "Admire the sky from the ground! We need to stay focused here." He took a deep breath to calm down. "All Schnee planes, listen up! We're approaching the source of the disturbance, which is still interfering with radar. Keep your heads on a swivel, and stay in formation."

All planes had given a collective 'roger' as they proceeded forward. Weiss glanced at her radar and noticed it was blank. "Whatever's blocking out the radar is right on top of us…" She called, "And yet I'm not seeing anything out there… I don't like this…"

Kalte agreed, "Yeah, something isn't right. Schnee seven… what do you want us to do?"

Weiss thought for a moment. Despite the eerie feeling, she didn't want to put her team into a combat position. Yet if she didn't and they were attacked by… anything… then they would all be easy targets. "Take the safe route," She made her decision, "All planes, assume combat formation!"

Her squad did as they were ordered, spreading out a marginal distance from each other. Four planes took the lead while three others had trailed. It was a strategy that Kalte claimed to have worked time after time in the war twenty-five years ago.

Schnee Seven, Two, Three and Four was in front, whilst Schnee One, Five and Six were behind them. Kalte, being in Schnee one, had taken his daughter's former position, just to the left of the secondary squad. Schnee Six, which sat Vanille, was in the middle, right behind Weiss. Schnee five was on the right. Everyone was in the place, keeping track of one another all while making sure nobody was sneaking up on them.

Weiss' heart raced. Her first time leading the squad and she wasn't sure what to do, let alone what was going to happen. They flew beyond the coastline, when a voice broke over the radio.

"Kalte, can you read me?" A dark, raspy voice called. Just the sound of whoever this man was made Weiss' blood run cold. "We've come to pay you back a debt, old man."

"Schnee Seven to Schnee One, what is this guy talking about?"

Kalte paused, not knowing what to say. He knew that voice, and he knew what the strange man was referring to. "Alder, is that you? Heh, about time you showed up. We missed you at the reunion last year? Where were you?"

"Shut up!" Adler called, "It's time you payed, Kalte! You sold out your country for nothing more than pitiful honor. Where has that gotten you?"

"A pretty comfy life training recruits."

"You old smartass. I heard your retirement is near. How would you like to have it come early?"

Weiss broke over the radio, "Father, what is her talking about?"

"Schwarz Nine… Do it."

"Wait, Schwarz team is supposed to have eight members…" Kalte thought aloud.

"Not anymore."

Weiss tensed up. "V-Vanille…?"

"You think for a second that we could be friends? The infallible Weiss Schnee, the daughter of the top scoring hypocrite of our nation! Hah! Our friendship meant nothing!"

"Vanille, please don't!"

"I'm sorry, Weiss. But you… And this squad… Cannot stay. Our new world _cannot_ fit you!" She found radar lock with Weiss, her thumb over the trigger. "You are a danger to our country! DIE!" She fired two missiles towards her interim leader, to which Weiss responded with a swift dive, avoiding both.

"Schnee team, engage!" Weiss ordered.

"Schwarz, destroy them all!" Adler shouted over the radio. Without any other warning, Schwarz team appeared, firing everything towards Schnee team. Schnee two, Four and Five went down before they could even break formation. Weiss saw nobody bail out from any of them.

Kalte was currently being trailed by Adler and another aircraft, easily maneuvering around their gunfire, and effortlessly weaving through their missiles. Weiss, herself, was being trailed by her former friend Vanille and one other. With each turn she made, Weiss saw another of her teammates fall, their planes burning. No parachutes were seen.

"Weiss!" Kalte called. "How are you holding up?"

Weiss broke a hard right turn, changing to turn left, while rising in altitude, "Other than the fact that we've just lost our entire team, I can _definitely complain!_ "

"Weiss… I'm sorry…" Kalte's voice was… breaking… Like he was crying. "I- I have to do this… Turn your bearings to Two-Eight-Zero, and head northwest… I'll cover you."

"Father… Wait!" Before Weiss could argue, she could feel her plane being ravaged by gunfire. She could hear Vanille laughing. She knew who was firing at her, but not why. Before she could do anything, more gunfire broke out. However, this wasn't aimed at her, this was aimed at her aggressors.

"Flee, Weiss! Get out of here, now! Don't worry about me, I'll take care of them."

Weiss, reluctantly, agreed, and turned to the bearings that her father told her about, and fled the battle zone. Behind her, she could hear more fighting; explosions, gunfire, all break out. Her radar was still blank. Whatever they did, they had planned for this.

She had mixed emotions; she was angry, sad, confused, relieved and stressed, all at once. Her plane was unresponsive, mostly, unable to turn hard. Raising her altitude was possible, but she wasn't sure how long she would be able to keep that height.

"Weiss," Vanille sing-song called, "Did you forget about me? I'm not gonna let you get away." Vanille approached rapidly. A cynical smile grew across her face, she gained target lock. Weiss could hear the warning, knowing she couldn't break at all.

"Schwarz Nine, don't worry about it." Adler called, "You shouldn't waste your ammo. She's heading out to sea… She's already dead." He laughed sadistically, as he too approaching the chase. "Leave her to the fish."

Vanille agreed and broke off, leaving Weiss a goodbye present.

"Give the team my regards when you meet them in hell, Weissy."

* * *

Weiss sat back in her bed, closing her eyes, trying to repress the memory she just told. "After that, I flew northwest. I didn't know where I was going, but I knew something had to be there. I tried to keep the plane up as long as possible, and I think I did a good job. I passed through a mountain pass, surprisingly not making contact with anyone until I saw ocean again…" She turned her gaze to Port, "Then I made contact with one of your ground control personnel, and I dropped my craft in the water. I bailed out, waited, then I was picked up."

"And now you're here."

"And now I'm here… I don't want my country to know I'm alive, Colonel. Schwarz may come after me again if he finds out… Regardless of where I am. I seek asylum here… I'll fly for you when I'm better, I'll help train recruits! I'll do anything! Please, just-"

"Calm down, child." Port ordered, "We won't send you back to Atlas until you're ready to go. We will grant you asylum, and try to figure out something for you to do as payment. Until then, get some rest. We will send the doctor back in for you." Port rose from his seat and turned to leave. "This will be our little secret, Miss Schnee. Not a word will be spoken."

Weiss nodded in thanks, and leaned back in her bed. She found her new home.

But for how long? That thought lingered through her mind.

* * *

Qrow sat in front of the remaining trainees, watching them walk in. The meeting was supposed to start in less than five minutes. One of the first ones there, of course, were Blake, Ruby and Yang. Qrow expected that out of Ruby and Yang; his nieces couldn't stop themselves from something like this. But Blake? That was surprising to him.

As the last of the trainees entered, Qrow motioned one to close the door. "Alright," He spoke, his tired eyes stared, almost uninterestedly, to his recruits. "I know you're all not going to like this, but we're short on people." He sighed, "All of you nuggets will be sitting alert. That means if we go up, you stay with me."

He turned his attention to Blake, "Belladonna!"

"Sir."

"You're flying number two tomorrow. I gotta keep an eye on you or who knows what you'll get yourself into."

Blake understood why Qrow said that, but it hurt no less. She did what she thought was right, and a recruit made it back alive because of her. She was stone faced, but yelling on the inside.

Yang leaned in towards Ruby, "That was a little harsh…" She whispered. All Ruby did was nod.

"Xiao Long!" Qrow growled, snapping Yang's attention back to him. "Something you'd like to say?"

Yang's only response was quick shake of her head. "Good. Because you and your sister are both flying with us tomorrow."

Qrow received a surprising reaction from both sisters. It wasn't excitement nor glee, rather one of surprise. Yang appeared to want to say something, but no words formed. Ruby just stayed straight faced.

Taiyang would want to hear about this. He was sure that both of them would be elated about flying tomorrow, considering Qrow basically just said that they were a part of his chosen three to be his squad until they graduate.

Qrow shrugged it off for now, "As for the rest of you, stay prepared tomorrow. Just because you're grounded doesn't mean you'll stay that way. Any questions?" No words were spoken, "Good. Dismissed."

Every rookie that was in the room collectively got up and began to file out. Even Yang and Blake. All made their way to leave, except Ruby, who had remained seated, staring into the distance.

Yang took notice, soon followed by Blake, but both left when Qrow began to eye them. The look he gave… Not a word was spoken, nor did one have to be. The duo left and waited patiently outside. As for Qrow…

"You ok, kid?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah… Why?"

Qrow sat in the chair next to hers, "Cause you had a good case of the thousand yard stare… What's up?"

"It's noth-" She gave up quick, knowing she wouldn't fool Qrow, "I- Uhg… It sounded like you said you wanted me up there with you tomorrow…"

"I did… Thought you'd be ecstatic?"

"I… I don't know what to say…" She finally made eye contact with the older man, "... Do you really think I've earned it?"

Qrow gave a soft smile. His little 'ace', as he called her all throughout her childhood… Was she really doubting her own ability? "Out of all of my pilots here you're the only one who I'd trust to fly with. I want you up there, mainly to show all the others how it's done." He leaned back in his chair, "Now get out of here, you're sister's waitin'." Ruby nodded, hugged her uncle, and left the room, leaving the rugged captain alone with his thoughts.

* * *

 **Well that was a lot of dialogue, wasn't it?**

 **We got to see a little bit of everything here, especially Weiss' story. That was something we both enjoyed working on the most here. We also got to properly set up the next few chapters, which is the 'Training Arc'.**

 **So what did you think? We understand there was a bit of a pacing issue to start with and we're doing everything we can to slow the story down a bit. The one thing you're going to see is a lot of 'off time'. It's not going to be all "Fly here, now go there, now here." You're going to get a glimpse of what the team does while they aren't in the sky.**

 **Like I said before, we thank you all for your reviews! Your thoughts are what keeps us pushing with this story! Please tell us your thoughts, your theories and concerns, we'd love to hear them!**

 **For now, we hope you enjoyed. We're going to try to work a bit harder to get that next chapter out over the weekend.**

 **From Karma and Myself,**

 **Until Next Time.**


	4. Chapter 3

**And here we are with chapter 3!**

 **This chapter is less fighting and more preparation, the team is getting to know each other. A lot of dialogue and development is here.**

 **Firstly, we'd both like to thank everyone who responded to the last chapter. We heard everything you said and slowed down greatly here.**

 **One more thing we'd like to do is thank u/u/ShadeOps21 from reddit, who sent us this imgur link /a/mY6JS ! He did a terrific job on these and we were elated when we saw them!**

 **So thank you all for reading. Without further delay, here's Chapter 3 of Wings of Chaos!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Ruby rejoined her sister and new-found friend, Blake, outside of the briefing room. Apologizing for delaying them, the trio began to march back to the room which the sisters shared.

"So..." Yang said, trying to spark conversation into her silent group, "We're all going up tomorrow..."

"Yup." Ruby retorted, making a popping noise at the end of her response.

Blake chose not to say anything, keeping herself deep in thought. She could understand Qrow playing favorites with Ruby and Yang, taking them both up to fly tomorrow, but after all he's said to her, why would Qrow take Blake? She wondered and wondered, especially about being named the number two aircraft. That means if anything were to happen to Qrow, Blake would take over... But in her eyes, Blake wasn't meant to lead...

Was she?

"Hello? Earth to Blake!" Yang called persistently, snapping Blake back into reality, "Are you still with us?"

Blake looked back to the blonde, startled look in her eyes told the sisters that Yang had really taken her by surprise. "Yeah, sorry. What's up?"

Yang shook her head and sighed, "I asked which cell you were assigned to?" She deadpanned. The term 'cell' was used commonly around base personnel to describe the room that each individual had been assigned to. It was yet another way for the staff to show their... Happiness, about the being stuck on the oasis. "Ruby and I share Cell One-Thirteen."

"Oh! I'm in Cell One-Zero-Eight. Right down the hall from you two."

"Great!" Yang exclaimed, "You can hang with us then, seeing as you don't have to travel too far!" Blake enjoyed the thought, but was never really much of a 'late-night fun' kind of girl. She hoped Ruby would talk Yang out of keeping her too late, considering they all _had a flight in the morning._ "Hey, anyone want to stop by the cafeteria again? Maybe some dinner?"

"You go ahead, Yang. I'm gonna go back to the cell, relax a bit." Ruby spoke up for the first time since leaving the briefing. Both Blake and Yang turned to the younger pilot, a look of surprise on both of them. "Before you ask, yes I'm ok. I'm just not hungry right now."

Yang nodded, "I'll bring something back for you for later, alright?" Ruby accepted the offer and the group went their own way. Blake stayed with Yang and followed her to the cafeteria.

It was almost a quarter past seven, almost a full six hours since the incident. Already rumors had began to run amongst the staff. Some calling it a 'multi-malfunctioning', others saying it was a UFO.

The entire ordeal was covered up, and the world was still at piece. Officially, at least. Yet that didn't simmer the mood amongst the pilots who had witnessed and been a part of the fight. Nor did it do any good to the higher ups, who were more and more on edge.

Blake and Yang entered the queue to retrieve their food, knowing it would take a while. It was peak dinner hour on base, and the cafeteria seemed to be almost completely full. "I might just take all of the food back to the cell." Yang joked, looking around the room while she waited.

"Hey, Yang..." Blake called, her voice barely loud enough for the blonde to hear, "What's up with Ruby? She's seemed... I don't know... Off? I haven't known you two for very long, but that doesn't seem like the way she always acts?"

Yang sighed and peered out the window, moving up as the line did, "It's complicated." She said, "Mom was a pilot... According to everyone who knew her, she was a damn good one, too." A small smile began to reveal, "She turned in her wings when she had Ruby, but she still flew every now and again when they absolutely needed her to. One day she went out and never came back..."

Blake looked on, surprised that Yang was telling her this. "It hit Ruby harder than anyone else. Even dad and Qrow were better off than her, you know? I guess Ruby's a little nervous, maybe even scared. She's been trying so hard to live up to her mother... She might be afraid she might not be as good as mom was, you know?"

Blake nodded in understanding, now fully comprehending the situation. In her mind, Blake envied both of the sisters. They each held a bond that Blake herself had longed for, but could never find. Even now, she still felt a little out of place. Though, she did see both Ruby and Yang opening up greatly, showing their interest in wanting to be friends.

Both girls finally made it to the front of the line, reveling in the choices. Today's options were Ham, mashed potatoes, peas and liver. Normally it was fish, not ham. They both wondered what the occasion was, but put that thought aside. Because they had _actual ham_. The entire base could tell tales of how much liver they've eaten... Check, _loathed_. Same went for fish. It seemed like a never ending nightmare.

But no more! Even if it's for one day, Yang didn't care. She was positively drooling at the plate she just took. She prepared an extra one for Ruby and patiently waited on Blake, who was carefully choosing her meal. Though, her patience was running thin, as all the she could think about was the food on her tray...

Ruby's meal may not even make it to the room...

After Blake loaded her tray up, the duo decided to just go back and eat in their room, which was accepted on base, so long as the trays were returned immediately after finishing. As they walked down the hall they saw few people, mostly it was the maintenance crew. "Dad must have let them off for a meal break..." Yang said, weaving through the small group, "Knowing him he'll be waiting for us in the room."

Blake nodded and continued to follow the blonde, only to stop upon hearing something... utterly terrifying...

She thought her ears had deceived her, maybe playing tricks on her... It had been a long day... There couldn't have-

"Blake? What's wrong?"

"Hm?" Blake looked up, quizzically, "Oh, it's nothing... I just, thought I heard a dog bark is all."

"Yeah, that's Zwei!" Yang exclaimed, "He's our dog... Were you really able to hear him? You must have really good hearing..."

All color drained from Blake's face. She didn't even catch what her new friend had just said, only staying on the 'dog' part. "Blake... Why are you so pale? Is something wrong?"

"O-oh! No, it's nothing. I-"

"You don't like dogs, do you?" Yang asked with smile, yet a serious tone.

"... No, not really..."

"Oh, it's alright. We'll make sure Zwei won't act up, alright?" Yang assured. As much as Blake hated it, she agreed. She much rather would have gone with a 'dog-free' environment, but for now she would suck it up and live with it.

The two continued on, making one last turn before arriving to their destination. Music could be heard from the outside. A smile grew on Yang, 'Ruby must've started the party early then...' she thought. Yang began to fish around for the key before the door was opened from the inside...

* * *

Qrow walked down the hangar line, his demeanor unchanged. The past few hours for him had been being yelled at by the base command... _All_ of the base command, figuring out his new flight, and trying to figure out any loss or gains from the encounter. All in all, he had a pretty rough day.

He also found out that the higher ups weren't letting anyone leave the island until they could sort this thing out. Not even Taiyang; though he just made his last mainland supply run.

Finally Qrow found himself at the maintenance hangar, only to find it with one older, balding man inside, examining a cargo plane. The man didn't even need to look at Qrow before stating, "Bad day, eh?"

"Heh, if only you knew." Qrow sat at a bench placed inside the hangar door. "If I didn't know any better I'd up and leave my job."

"Aw, you wouldn't do that to your old friend, Taiyang, now would you? Without you who do we have to take all the flak from the emperor... No pun intended."

Qrow smiled slightly. If it were Yang she would have _emphasized_ the pun. At least Taiyang had the decency to wave it off. "Bah, you'd make due." He leaned forward in his seat, resting his elbows on his knees. "Tai, there's something we need to talk about."

"Oh boy," Taiyang said, unenthusiastically, as he stepped off the ladder, "What did Yang do this time? Do I need to help with medical reports? Or did she break into the officer's club again?"

"No, no. Neither. It's not Yang." Qrow waived his theories off, "Well, not enitrely. It's Ruby, mostly. But there is something about Yang I want to talk to you about." Taiyang's expression dropped to a more serious stare, his smile all but vanished. "I informed her, Yang, and that other one, Belladonna... You've met her, right?"

"Yeah." He nodded, taking a seat next to Qrow.

"Right, well I told them that they're going to be up with me tomorrow, that they were that one step closer to graduating to full pilots."

"Ah, finally getting out of the microwave. No longer called 'nuggets'."

"Right, moving on, Ruby had this... Look on her. Thousand yard stare type deal. I'm not sure what came over her, but you might want to talk to her. I wouldn't let Yang know about this, she'd worry too much."

Tai nodded, understanding what Qrow was saying. "Alright, I'll talk to her. She might just need a confidence booster, may be a little nervous. Now what about Yang?"

"Alright, Tai, I'm going to cut to the chase, here: Yang's going to get herself killed one of these days." Tai nodded, fully accepting the possibility. His oldest always had a certain energy to her, she liked to push the limits sometimes. Too often in his opinion. "Earlier today, while the, uh, 'incident', happened, she wanted to go after the fleeing force. Even argued with the ground control before getting hollered at by yours truly." Qrow explained the events earlier, though Tai didn't need to hear his concern. "I don't know when you want to talk to them, but I think Blake's going to be with them too, so you can get a three for one on your stories if you catch them at dinner now."

"I was about to let my men off for dinner anyway. This'll give me the break I needed to talk with them all and see what I can do.. After today I got a feeling all of them will need a bit of a pep-talk." He rose from his seat and walked to a tool cabinet, which held a radio for the maintenance personnel. Picking it up, he made a quick order to his crew to go off for dinner.

He gave a thumbs up to Qrow, to which Qrow returned a nod. They both left the hangar, though at different times. Qrow sat back for a few moments, thinking about a few things. Taiyang, however, left immediately, which Qrow didn't mind. He enjoyed his solitude. After a few minutes, Qrow got up to follow Taiyang. He knew where the father of his nieces was going, and decided to just meet the older man there.

Tai walked on, running into a few of his crewman. Each one with a question on what part is what, or something doesn't seem wrong but it is, or even the ever so infamous, "What's this do?". He told each one with a question not to worry about it until after a chow, and continues his strut. His rush was mainly fueled by the concern for Ruby. Both he and Qrow were positive that she would be thrilled with the news that she'd be flying tomorrow. Something just wasn't right with the reaction she gave Qrow.

Eventually Taiyang made it to the personnel quarters, weaving through the halls and dodging the nuggets of the island, trying so very hard to make it to his daughter's room. But damn was it difficult!

'It's not easy being the most popular old man on the island, I guess.' Tai told himself. He broke free from everything, though, and followed the sound of the music. Rock and Roll was the music of choice for both Ruby and Yang, so if the music was on (and you can always tell when it's on), you know one of them is in.

Tai made it to the door, balled his hand into a fist, and bumped his knuckles against the wood. After a moment the music volume died down a bit, and the doorknob began to turn. Taiyang stood back as the door opened slowly, revealing his youngest daughter looking up at him. "Oh, hey dad!" She said, trying to sound enthusiastic. "What's up? Out for dinner?"

"Yeah, well, sort of." He said truthfully, "I was about to, but I decided to come see how you were doing."

Ruby looked at him quizzically, "Uncle Qrow told you about earlier..." It wasn't stated as a question and Taiyang knew that she wasn't a fool.

"Yeah, he did. Can I?"

Ruby nodded and opened the door fully, allowing Tai entrance. The cell was about as big as the rest of them. A bunk bed sat in the far right next to the wall. Directly across from it was a leather couch, and next to that was the stereo system Ruby and Yang used to blare their music. Above the stereo was an 'Achieve Men' poster. Ruby defended that it was Yang that listened to them, even though Tai caught her on numerous occasions listening to a few of their songs. He told no one, though. She had an image to keep up, after all.

On the bottom bunk sat a red blanket, a corgi-face pillow, and a corgi. The dog seemed unfazed by Tai's entrance, and continued to snore away. The top bunk held a yellow blanket, same size as its red counterpart below, and a yellow scarf hung over the end.

Tai took a seat on the couch, whilst Ruby turned the music up a bit. Loud enough where the two were still able to communicate with each other, and still able to be heard outside.

"So, Ruby, what's on your mind?"

"Do I even have to say it?" She haphazardly smiled, "I'm a little nervous, a little sad, and a little happy. I think you know why."

"Mmm." Tai nodded. He indeed knew why she was feeling this way, she didn't have to explain it to him. Her nervousness came from just being in the sky. After today's events anyone would be a nervous wreck going up again. Her sadness came for her mother, whom was not alive to see her go up as a pilot. Her happiness was of the fact the she could go up and fly with Qrow.

"I know there isn't much I can say that can make you feel any better, hon. All I can say is that you've made all of us; Me, Summer, Yang, Qrow, every last one of us, very proud. I get that you're sad that Summer isn't here but that doesn't mean she isn't watching." He tried to reason with her, doing anything and everything to make her feel better. "If I were you I wouldn't worry much about the past, or anything really. I would be concerned with what's going to happen tomorrow and prepare, both physically and mentally."

"Good thing you aren't me then!" Ruby joked, "I'd be afraid of something happening to you if you tried to do anything more physical than lifting!"

Tai looked at her, an expression of mock hurt plastered his face, "I'm glad you show some concern for your old man, here, but come on! I'm not that big… Or old!"

"You're right, but I can still be concerned."

Tai sighed. He wanted to smack her down so hard just to show that he's still got it, but instead let it slide. "What ever happened to 'honor thy father'?"

Ruby shrugged, smile riddled her face. Taiyang sat back, thinking how easy it was to change his daughter around like that. Ruby sat down, causing Zwei to jump a bit. "Oh finally the dog wakes up." Tai laughed.

All Zwei did was return a bark, jumping off of the bed to meet the older man. Zwei was a corgi, which meant was a smaller dog. Even so much as jumping off the bed was funny to both Ruby and Tai.

Not soon after greeting Tai did Zwei go off on an excitement-charged run around the room, barking and bumping into everything until Ruby picked him up again. "No matter how old I get that will never stop being funny."

Tai nodded in agreement before listening to his stomach growl. "Ruby," He called, "How about we go out and get some chow before my crews eat it all."

"Oh… Yang said she was going to bring me back some…" His youngest said meekly. Taiyang gave her a look of mild annoyance, all while mentally smacking himself over the lack of blonde in the room. Ruby and Yang always ate together, so one being in the cafeteria without the other meant that someone was waiting; either for food to be brought to them, or the person to the food. All dependant on who and when.

On queue the doorknob began to jiggle around, before a frustrated sigh was heard and a smack on the door soon after. Voices could be heard, someone attempting to reason with another, to no avail. Ruby and her father shared a look before the red-clad pilot rose up, tossing Zwei (or more accurately, throwing,) at Tai. Tai and Zwei also shared a look, before Zwei realized he didn't want to be there, and presumably jumped off.

Ruby opened the door slightly, peeking out as if she didn't know who was there. After exchanging a few words with her visitors outside, she could be seen slamming the door swiftly with a huge smile on her face, but fear in her eyes. "Honey," Tai called, "What did you-"

Then he heard it…

No, he _felt it…_

Absolutely terrifying, anger driven…

A loud banging was heard, so forceful it knocked Ruby away from the door. Tai was afraid his oldest was going to break down the door, _again!_ "Ruby! What did you tell her?!"

The young women couldn't stop snickering long enough to get a complete sentence out. Eventually it turned into full blown laughter at the situation. Taiyang was happy she found amusement in this, _because he certainly didn't!_

After a minute, the banging on the door ceased. Tai thought the MPs came by, but instead, all he heard was heavy breathing… And Ruby's now uncontrollable laughter. The door opened, revealing a fuming blonde with an absolutely petrified young black-haired women behind her.

Ruby absolutely lost it at this point, "THE DOOR WAS UNLOCKED THE WHOLE TIME!" She cried as she fell over. Taiyang just sat back in his seat and chuckled, having seen this before. "You… You look angr- Yang, wait! We can talk abou- WOAH!"

Yang picked up her sister, wrapped her in a headlock and proceeded to walk out of the cell with her in tow. "I'm going to go kill Ruby now! Bye dad!" She waved with her free hand. She asked Blake, who was still shocked over the events that just transpired, to carry in the food inside. Though it was tough to hear her over Ruby's pleas for help.

Taiyang eyed the black-haired women in the doorway, gesturing for her to come in. "First time you've seen that, eh?"

"I… I just met them earlier today… Does that happen often? Like, is she going to be ok?"

"Who, Ruby? Nah, she'll be fine… What did she say to you two?"

"Oh, she said something like, 'You can't come in, I'm two songs away from getting good with Marco'..." Taiyang busted out laughing, nearly falling off of the couch. "Who's Marco?"

"O-Oh! Marco, Staff Sergeant Marco Fence, the most suave man I have ever met. He walks into a room and every lady is around his arms." Taiyang tried to explain, still laughing, "I- foolishly- tried to get him to go out with either Ruby or Yang and instead he went with both… I, uh, from what I hear he… You didn't hear this from me, but tried to move on both of them, if you know what I mean." Blake began to blush a little bit after hearing the tale. Taiyang continued, "Yang put him in the hospital, but I'm sure Ruby helped a bit, too. They like to joke about it here and there, and Marco is still on the island, so it can be a possibility, you know?"

Blake nodded slowly, still confused as to what just happened, but at least she understood the story. "You can come in you know, I don't bite, and the dog doesn't bite anything that isn't a chew toy."

Reluctantly, she walked in, careful avoid the gaze of the dog, who too was wondering what just happened, and where is master disappeared to. Zwei turned to Tai, then to Blake, then walked to peek outside the doorway, presumably drop his ears as a sign of disappointment, and slowly walked back in, laying down by Taiyang's feet. Quite pitiful, yet still humorous for the older mechanic. Blake set the food down on the desk next to the bunks and took a seat on the lower bed.

Blake admired the room around her, as it seemed very cozy. The sisters obviously knew how to make the base seem like home. While admiring the decor, Blake stumbled upon a little book on the pillow of the bed she was currently seated on. Instinctively, she reached for it, but quickly pulled her hand back when she realized her manners.

"You may not be able to look at it," Tai called, bringing Blake back into reality, "But I certainly can!" He extended a hand, gesturing for Blake to hand her the book before the sisters arrived. Blake complied, handing Tai the book with a nod. The older man began to flip through the pages of the tattered book, his expression lightening further to a soft, sincere smile. "This was her favorite book, from when she was a kid, you know." He said, voice almost being drowned out from the music completely. "Time wore this thing down and the pages fell out. She's been trying to fill in the blanks ever since."

He closed the book and looked at Blake, who was intently listening, "As we moved from base to base she lost page after page, and instead of buying a new one she just decided to rebuild what she had." He handed the book back.

Blake accepted the book and set it down where she found it, choosing not to say a word. What could she say? As she turned her attention back to Taiyang, it seemed as though there was something he wanted to say, but couldn't formulate the words. As he began to open his mouth, Yang walked in, rubbing her hands together like she was wiping something off.

"Ah, I'm back." She called. Zwei immediately got up and looked to the blonde, but his expression soon dropped when he realized Ruby wasn't with her. "What? Don't want to see me?" Zwei retorted with a bark, and layed down once again. "Fine dog! Forget you!" She crossed her arms in front of her chest and sat down next to Blake, who by this point was greatly concerned for Ruby's health.

"Yang, where's my youngest at?"

A smile grew upon her face as Yang picked up her tray, "Check a fishing boat, she should turn up in a few hours."

Taiyang's smile lessened a bit, "Ok, time to get serious now. Where is she, her dinners going to get cold."

Yang sighed and rolled her eyes, "She should be coming in ri~ght abou~t… Now!"

On queue, Ruby walked in, clearly out of breath. She leaned against the door frame, holding her side and said "That… was not fun, Yang."

All Tai had to do was shoot Yang a quizzical expression before she began to explain, "I wrapped her in a headlock, took her to the door to the hangar strip, threw her out into the little bushes to the right of the door, closed it, and made sure it was locked." She interrupted Tai's inbound verbal assault before it could start, "Hey, both of you know how much I hate that prick."

"Touche." Tai responded, "But there's no excuse for that, honey. It was just a joke after all."

"I like to play rough." Yang shrugged. "Damn, Ruby get in here and close the door already, your food's going to get cold." Ruby sighed, complied, closed the door, walked in, took a seat next to her father who passed her the meal Yang and Blake brought back, and began to eat, not saying a word.

While Ruby was clearly agitated over what transpired moments ago, Yang and her father were starting to ramble on, leaving Blake to sit in silence. She began to eat, while once again admire her surroundings. She was able to drown out the speakers well, keeping her primary focus on the family before her, just incase they came to bring her into the discussion.

The family before her was… Different, to say the least. Their overall dynamic was something she, personally hadn't seen before, while the way they acted individually reflected their upbringing. They were so close with each other, so honest…

She hadn't known them for more than a day and already she knew so much about all three of them. And yet they knew almost nothing about her… But that was by her choice. She made it so that they couldn't get too close, yet. If ever.

While observing the little talk in front of her, Blake began to examine Taiyang, the father of her wingwomen. The older man was a mentor to everyone on the oasis, regardless of their position or job, he had advice, a story, experience in everything that he was more than happy to share. He has on more than one occasion, even, to all of the pilots. There was a reason why he was the most popular and well known man on the island, and that was because he was the teacher for everyone.

Then there was Yang, the spitting image of Taiyang in almost every capacity. Her exterior personality hardly matches what's deep down, and that was easy for Blake to tell. She was hiding something… Blake didn't feel right to push whatever it was, but under that fun-loving, yet sometimes angry, exterior was a very mature young women ready to take the world.

She turned her attention to the youngest in the room, Ruby Rose. The lieutenant was sitting quietly, eating her meal and observing the conversation before her, all while keeping Zwei next to her legs, off of the couch. This one was a bit more difficult to read than the others. While Yang had told her tale, it was clear to Blake that there was more than meets the eye to the red-clad pilot. She was very interested to see what the young one could do, given her record so far. The youngest on the entire base, let alone their squadron.

Interesting indeed.

A nudge from the blonde next to her brought Blake back to reality again, as she cursed herself for being so out-of-it, as it were. "Man you are just a deep thinker, aren't you?" Yang asked, "Are we boring or something?" Tai and Ruby both shrugged, though Ruby gave a look of 'don't push this.'

"Sorry, what's going on?"

"Dad was about to start telling us a story of one of his first flights."

Tai nodded, "I kinda hoped to give you all a little pep-talk before going up tomorrow, as flying with Qrow can be… A little difficult." Tai pointed at Yang as she opened her mouth to say something, instantly silencing her. "Now I'm not going to lie to you girls… It's not all pretty up there, regardless of how beautiful the world may look. Sometimes things get hairy, as they did today.

But that's what happens in the skies. I remember back when I was your ages, I thought I was invincible. The big war was kicking off and we defended our lines time after time, never letting up. One day I was up, thinking I was so great, then someone got the jump on me. Flew through my radar undetected and started shooting at me. Probably my third time up and I was gonna die."

He leaned in, resting his elbows on his knees, "I had a guardian that day, and his name was Qrow. He lined up a shot and blew the bastard out of the sky. From there he and I have grown close, close enough to be brothers. Hence the uncle.

My advice for you three, watch your backs. Look after each other no matter what. You're a team up there and you have to act like it or else, god forbid, but if anything happens, they'll tear you apart. Don't let them get the jump on you, and don't get an ego either. If you do I'm gonna come down and knock you back to earth." He looked at Yang, who just shrugged it off. Tai leaned back, indicating that he was done with this 'speech'. He wasn't really looking to tell them 'It's going to be great up there!', no that would be a lie. Instead he wanted to tell them the simple message, 'One wrong move, and you're screwed.'.

All three took in what Taiyang said. It was short, sweet and to the point, with an interesting anecdote with it. Each of the girls looked to each other and nodded, then turned to Tai. Ruby spoke first, "I think we hear you, dad." Blake and Yang both nodded, "We'll make sure nothing happens to the other."

"That's all I ask." There was a brief moment before anyone said a word. The first one to speak up was Ruby:

"Dad... " She called, picking up Zwei, who reveled in the contact, "Who do you think's covering up the battle."

Taiyang sat for a minute and thought his next few words out before speaking. It wasn't his place to talk about it, let alone know, but he too wondered. Deep down, he knew. "Listen, the only thing to cross that sea is Marbel Air Base. That's Vacuo territory."

"But aren't we allies with Vacuo? Every since the big war?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, that's the problem." Tai spoke honestly, rubbing his chin in thought. "I bet there are lines ringing off the hook upstairs, with people from all over trying to figure out what is going on where. You know, I bet Qrow is hating this more than anyone."

"How so?" Blake inquired.

"He used to have a lady friend over in Vacuo. He'll never admit to it though, because she ended the relationship and damaged his pride to no end." Tai chuckled, keeping that memory close. Qrow had only been shot down twice in his life, and that was the worst one of the two. Taiyang said, looking at his watch. "Hm, I have to get back to work. The mechanics job is never done I'm afraid. Ladies." With that, he departed.

Blake, too, looked at the time. Her watch told nine-thirty-five. "I think I'm going to turn in, too. You never know what could happen tomorrow." As she rose to leave, Ruby also stood up.

"Yeah, I think we should turn these trays back in."

"I'll handle them." Yang declared, "Ruby, you just make sure Blake gets back ok."

"I can handle myself-" Blake tried to defend before realizing what Yang was doing. The blonde was giving her the perfect chance to talk to Ruby, seeing as though the red-clad girl had been the only one Blake really hasn't gotten a chance to know.

Yang picked up the trays, eager to leave and give her two counterparts their space. She had gotten to know Blake a bit throughout the day, but Ruby had stayed as distant as Blake did. Yang was interested to see how both girls would react; Ruby never was good at making friends, but that, in Yang's opinion, is what made her sister so cute! Blake, on the other hand, just didn't want to make friends.

As Yang left, Ruby gestured with a wave of the hand to follow suite, with Zwei leaving his perch. Blake jumped to avoid contact from the dog, to which Zwei did take objection to. He barked, lowered his head, jumped onto Ruby's bed and went back to sleep.

"Do you not like dogs?" Ruby asked honestly.

Blake tried to choose her words carefully, as she didn't know how Ruby would take it. "Not really, no. I'll be honest, I never was a dog person. My mother had an allergy, so the only pet we had was a cat."

Ruby nodded, a small 'ahh' escaped her lips. The two left the room and began to walk down the hall. Blakes cell was less than five doors down from Ruby and Yang's, which made the walk very quick. It was also very quiet, for the most part. "So, Blake, what else can you tell me about yourself?"

Blake thought for a moment, trying to think of anything to end the small-talk until they got to her room, "Well, other than my abnormally large collection of books in my room, nothing much comes to mind."

The red-haired girl shook her head and laughed, "I'm sure it's not that many, Blake." She said, waving her now wingwomen off. Blake raised an eyebrow as they reached her room and opened the door, revealing a single-bed room with not one, but two nightstands with books in them, and a full-sized bookcase. Ruby instantly stopped in her tracks, eyes wide with amazement, admiring the collection.

"Packing light for the road, eh?"

"I figured if I'm going to be here awhile, I might as well enjoy some of it." Blake responded honestly with a small smile. If she was proud of anything, it was her book collection. She was starting to equate it to Yang's rock collection, though deep down she knew she couldn't contend with the blonde pilot.

"Well, Blake, it was nice getting to know you, but I don't think we've met officially." Blake looked at the young women quizzically, but then noticed the extended hand. "I think we should have met on better terms… And these are the terms I like to meet friends on…" It was her turn to let a small 'ahh' escape her lips, now understanding what Ruby was talking about. Blake, too, extended her hand, and met Ruby half-way. "I think now we've met…" She said, gripping the young pilot's hand.

Ruby nodded, broke off the handshake, said her goodnight and departed. Blake closed the door to her cell, still able to hear the music from the sisters' cell. As she got ready to go to sleep, there was one thing that kept crossing her mind:

Despite her size, Ruby had a very strong grip, for a very small hand.

* * *

Mercury speed-walked as fast as he could, not looking to cause panic from the other subordinates. The files in his hand read, in dark red letters 'Classified'. The look on his face was one of fear, concern, even regret.

He walked into Port's administrative office, not bothering to knock. "Colonel Port," Mercury called, bringing the older man's attention away from the paperwork currently on his desk."We have an update, sir."

"Yes, Captain Black… What happened out there?"

"Sir, the recon craft went down moments after our jets made contact… Captain Lenom and his force engaged a force that came to defend the craft… Lenom and his wingman survived the encounter. I have the files of the other two that went down."

Port cursed under his breath, "Damnit. More and more letters of condolences to write, and more lies to make concerning the issue at hand." He took all of the files from Mercury, including the 'Classified' one. He began to read through the personnel files on who he lost today, then the one on the covert mission they were on. "Captain Black… What… What do you think is going on out there?"

"I- I'm not sure, sir. Something doesn't add, obviously. I think our best choice is to keep all available units at combat stations, keep everyone ready, just in case."

Port sighed, but nodded in agreement. "You're right. As much as I hate to do it, I fear… I fear war just may be upon us soon. Return to your duty, Captain Black." Mercury saluted, then left the colonel to his work. Port didn't like what was happening, but he knew he couldn't do a damn thing to stop any of it.

* * *

 **Uh oh, what's going on here? Trouble in paradise?**

 **Everything's starting to kick off a bit, now isn't it? No we didn't have our little gang go up to take care of the spy plane. We left that to another squad today.**

 **So how was the chapter? A little bit of character development today, and keep in mind that everything over the last three chapters have all taken place on the same day. Also, with the end of this chapter, we enter the training arc.**

 **From Karma and myself, we hope you enjoyed. As always be sure to tell us what you think, remember we listen to everything everyone says, no matter what it is or who said it.**

 **Until Next Time.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Hello all! DemonLord here back with Wings of Chaos after an impromptu hiatus. Karmahhhhh and I would like to express our apologies, as we did not anticipate things to jump in the way and stop us from finishing this. Alas, life.**

 **Karm would also like to add a glossary for some terms you may see in this chapter. This way, you can know what it means! This is probably going to happen every now and again as the story progresses.**

 **Glossary:**

 **AWACS - Airborne Warning and Control System**

 **Fox Three - active radar guided missile**

 **Angels - Altitude in thousands of feet**

 **Did you read it? Good, because you're going to be tested on it later! ... Alright, you won't be.**

 **Without further delay, here's Chapter Four! Enjoy!**

* * *

" _There are innocent people aboard that train! Hold your fire!" Blake shouted over the radio, but her pleas fell on deaf ears. The rest of the flight continued their approaches on the target ahead as another voice echoed through the comms. A darker, and much colder voice._

" _Those 'innocents' are nothing but liars, thriving off the exploitation of those beneath them. They follow the teachings of bigots and hypocrites, and deserve this fate no less than their ancestors."_

 _The final plane lined up its approach. "All units, release missiles."_

 _Dozens of white streaks filled the sky as a harsh metal rain fell upon the train._

 _Only one aircraft still held its payload. The only pilot who could not bear to pull the trigger._

…

…

…

Blake jolted awake at the sound of a banging on her door, breathing heavily and covered in sweat. She found herself inside of her cell, no longer in the nightmare she had just relived.

"Let's go Belladonna! We got an emergency sortie and we need you ready now!" The gruff voice of Qrow broke through the doorway. Emergency sortie? There was only supposed to be a few training flights today. Opening up her door, Blake's sleep-deprived eyes could hardly make out the sight the older man walking away. Whatever was going on, Qrow was in a hurry to get to it.

Peering down the other end of the hall, both Ruby and Yang made their ways towards the hangars, looking just as confused as Blake.

"Ruby, Yang, what is happening?"

"I don't know," Yang slurred, clearly she wasn't a morning person. "But Qrow doesn't look very happy."

"Neither do you, Yang," Ruby joked, avoiding the smack Yang sent, "But whatever it is, it sounds bad. Come on, let's go." She jumped from her bunk after getting her boots tied and jogged down the hall. Blake followed, but only after making sure Yang didn't fall back asleep.

Blake was surprised at the energy the younger pilot held. Ruby and Yang clearly were different in many ways; personality was evident enough, but it also appeared that Ruby was the early riser of the two.

All while she thought this, Blake realized she had been practically dragging Yang through the halls, further proving her theory. She sighed as she let go of the blonde, letting her drop with a thud.

Yang bounced up after making contact with the tile floor, her eyes shooting wide. She pushed herself up and glanced at Blake, who had a small, yet cynical smile on her face. "You dropped me?" Was the only thing to escape Yang's lips.

"It's that or a water splash." Blake replied, "Come on, let's not keep Qrow waiting."

Yang agreed, rubbing her eyes, she stood up and followed Blake. Both girls eventually made it to the briefing room where Qrow, Ruby and Port were waiting. Ruby more patiently than the others. "Glad you could make it, ladies." Port said, "Please, close the door and we can begin."

Blake complied and shut the door behind her whilst Yang took her seat next to Ruby, who sat next to Qrow. Blake sat to the other side of Qrow. On the other side of the table sat Port and Mercury.

Port rose from his seat and took in a breath, "At approximately zero-seven-hundred hours, radar detected several formations of aircraft heading towards this base. Judging by the size and the fact that none responded to our hails, they appear to be unmanned drones. Not long after, our sonobuoys picked up a submarine entering the area around Patch, which we believe to be acting as the mothership for the UAVs. Your mission is to shoot down the drones and secure airspace above the boat until we can send a team in to capture the personnel on the vessel. We want this thing in one piece and the crew alive for questioning people! Any questions?"

Ruby was the only one to raise a hand. The colonel nodded, giving her the go ahead, "How are we supposed to arrest a submarine?"

Mercury stepped up from his seat, "The sub is following the drones, which will eventually need to be recovered. As far as I'm aware, nobody has yet to develop a submersible aircraft, so it will need to surface in order to get her drones back. You will launch once the drones begin their return, and intercept the sub before it can recover them. We don't know whose ship this, but that's what we aim to find out. The sub is not a target, only the drones. Am I clear?"

All present nodded, fully understanding the urgency of their mission. "Good. Get suited, you're respective crafts are ready to go outside. One more thing: Not a word to anyone. You are starting your training early if anyone asks. Got it? Good. Dismissed!"

All four members stood up and walked out of the room, heading straight to the lockers. Qrow was oddly silent, something that fazed the sisters slightly. Even Blake noticed his unusual silence. Everyone, however, passed it off as his preparation.

Everything that has happened over the last few days has been sketchy to put it mildly. No one knew what was happening, and that's what was so unnerving. Regardless, it all boiled down to one thing: They were the soldiers, and they had to do what they were told, no questions asked.

And that was the negative to the ever so romantic life of a soldier.

Ruby and Blake had reached their lockers first, Yang opting to splash cool water in her face to fully wake herself up. When the blonde returned, she found that her sister had already unlocked and opened her locker for her. The one in question was now slipping into her flightsuit. Blake had finally pulled hers out and began to jump into it, as well as Yang.

Once again, Blake found herself impressed by the sisters. They were fast acting, Ruby more so. Yang seemed to be more of an 'act on instinct' type of person, whilst the former seemed to stay back, watch and react accordingly.

It didn't take the trio long to suit up, and they soon found themselves outside in the hangar. The colonel was true to his word and the flight crew had prepared their craft. The time was almost zero-eight-hundred, and the recon drones could still be seen, though now they had turned away, heading west.

"Alright!" Qrow called, "You know your objectives! Destroy those drones before they make it to the sub, and do _not_ sink it! Qrow Team, load up!" With the command given, all of the squad entered their respective aircraft. The ground crews helped strap them in, the cockpit closed, sealing all four within their metal shells.

Once the engines got going, each member began doing their internal checks: Ventilation, radar, communications, all of the essentials. Then they began their taxi. Luckily for them, the control tower had made radar contact with the drones and had sent the information to the squad. Now they could make radar lock with the drones and fire missiles, instead of strafing them with guns.

The squad taxied to the runway. First up was Qrow, then Blake, Yang and finally Ruby. Qrow was serious about keeping Blake close. Blake also knew that if anything were to happen, heaven forbid, she would be thrusted into squad lead.

She didn't know what to feel about that. It wasn't the first time in her life that she had been so close to leading a squad, and most certainly won't be the last. But she still didn't like the idea; she never was a good leader, in her own eyes.

She shook the thoughts from her mind, what could possibly happen? They're taking care of drones! She turned her attention to the runway and saw Qrow's Phantom take off, which was the green light for her to begin her roll. Punching the thrust she began to move, picking up speed as she went. Eventually she found enough thrust to take to the sky and followed her leader. Her landing gear up, she turned to fly with Qrow, who was circling the island, watching his nieces take off.

Yang went up, and so did Ruby, both in short order. They all formed up and began their flight westward towards the drones.

* * *

 **Operation** **Jäger**

 **August 28th, 2025**

 **0930 Hours**

 **Island of Patch**

The boat was less than fifteen miles off of Patch's coast, whilst the drones weren't so lucky. There were three waves of four drones, each evenly spaced and closer and closer to the boat.

"Crow squadron, this is AWACS Huntsman," An energetic, speedy voice called over the radio, "Approaching first wave of unmanned drones, all bearing two-three-zero. Rubin you are cleared to engage the drones only."

Qrow was the one to reply for his team, "Copy that. You keep an eye on us from up there, AWACS." He turned his attention to his flight, "You got that nuggets?"

"Crow Two, roger." Blake confirmed first.

Next was Yang, "Crow Three, roger."

Finally, Ruby, "Crow Four, roger."

"The drones are split into 4 separate flights," Huntsman followed up, "two in each group. Remember, you are NOT to engage the ship. Understand?"

"Heard you loud and clear, motormouth." From the dry tone of his voice, Qrow had dealt with several different AWACS in his time. An AWACS was an airborne early warning and control system, usually run by a large aircraft thirty-five thousand feet up and far away from the action. Never working with such an asset before, Blake found it nerve-wracking, but somewhat comforting knowing that Huntsman was keeping an eye on the situation.

"Hellooo!? Earth to Belle! You still watching my tail?"

"Y- yes sir!" Blake stuttered, caught off guard in her daydream. "J- just checking my gauges."

"Stay alert back there and keep your head on a swivel," Qrow continued over the radio. "As I was saying, Rose and Xiao Long will break off and engage the right group. Belladonna, I gotta keep my eye on you so you're with me."

"Crow 4, copy. Let's get 'em sis!"

As the pair of Tigersharks piloted by the sisters broke off, Blake turned her attention back forward. Her leader had begun to pull away, already heading for the left group of drones. Pushing the throttle forward, her own aircraft's engines spooled with a high pitched scream, pinning Blake to the ejection seat. It wasn't long before the first set of UAVs came into view.

"Predators, unarmed, nice and easy." Qrow relayed through the radio. "Alright kiddo, you're up. Don't go wasting your missiles, see if you can stick to guns for now."

"Roger." Blake dropped her visor down in front of her eyes, the gunsight coming into view as she approached within one thousand meters of her target. She lined up the gunsight

and pulled the trigger.

The Tigers dual twenty millimeter cannons roared to life and lanced a stream of tracer

rounds, amputating the drones tail and dropping it into an irreversible dive . Qrow opened fire on the second drone, the Phantoms cannon ripping into the airframe with precision accuracy.

"Good shooting kid, you sure you haven't done this before?"

Blake felt a pang in her chest when she heard that, but faltered for only a moment, "Beginners luck, sir." The two formed up just in time for Ruby and Yang to catch up with them.

"Last one's to the next wave loses!" Yang's voice called as both aircraft zoomed past. Qrow sighed, wanting to yell at his nieces, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Instead, he accepted the challenge, and he and Blake both picked up speed to catch up with their rogue counterparts.

Qrow knew that Ruby and Yang would make it first. He also knew that, at their current speed, they would overshoot, and barely put it any rounds. Blake also recognized this as their opportunity to one-up _and_ shut up the sisters. Not an easy task in itself.

Just as they expected, both Ruby and Yang overshot the drones, Ruby not even attempting to shoot them. She leaned back in her seat and sighed audibly, "I knew I was going to do that, I knew it I knew it I knew it!"

Yang formed back up with her, "It's ok, we'll let them have these two, you and I will get the others."

"And let that be a lesson, nuggets," The older captain announced, "Never overcompensate anything, and never make a game out of it, either. War isn't fun, contrary to popular belief." As he finished, he and Blake both strafed the third group down.

Accelerating further ahead, two more fireballs began their descent towards the ocean accompanied by the echo of cannon fire.

"Crow Four, splash one!"

"Crow Three, bagged another!"

"Crow Four to Crow One, do these count towards our kill record?"

Qrow pondered the thought for a moment. Ultimately it wasn't his choice, if it was then the answer would be a definite 'yes' just because. "I'd say so! They're airborne, they count." A cheer was heard over the radio as Qrow smiled and sighed. It was amazing to him how simple and easy it was to make his nieces happy, despite how complex they both tend to be. "AWACs, boogey dope! What more do we have?"

"Crow One, AWACS counts zero drones. Standby for further orders."

"Great, even the AWACS bosses us around," Qrow muttered, loud enough for it to be picked up over the radio. Ruby snickered whilst lifted her visor to pinch the bridge of her nose. Blake shook her head. All three knew he was joking, but it was a bad one altogether.

"Crow Team, your new orders are to hold above the ship. Keep it in our waters and await patrol boats to move in for arrest."

"So now we gotta babysit a submarine?" Yang protested out of boredom, clearly looking for more action. "I thought we were supposed to be fighters."

Qrow was quick to shut her up "No, we're soldiers and we follow orders. Speaking of which, send a surrender request over to that sub, why don't you."

* * *

"Huntsman to Crow squadron, new radar contacts." AWACS came over the radio once more. "Vector two-eight-zero, angels six. Cancel current objective and return to friendly triple-A cover."

Vector two-eighty, the four remembered that axis all too well.

"They gotta be riding the border here, and who knows how many more are itching to cross. All aircraft return to base, now!" Qrow declared, not wishing to see any more nuggets go down. All planes turned around back to the base, and the chase was on.

The team formed up and pushed the throttle, their engines beginning to whine out of use. All the while four dots appeared on radar, moving fast. Clearly these were MiGs, fast, sleek and highly maneuverable aircraft; dangerous little buggers. Yang had looked to her radar and back to her team repeatedly, worried that they wouldn't make it. Her concern was proven correct when her radar lock warning began to ring out.

"AH! I'm not gonna make it! They've got a lock!" Not soon after the missile warning alarm rang out, "Oh shi-" Her voice was cut out as she juked hard right, avoiding both of the missiles that were locked on her.

"Enemy has begun an attack. Do we engage?" Blake asked while breaking formation, giving her a chance to cover anyone if needed.

Huntsman came over, strict and steady, "Negative. Do not engage. Return to base."

"Oh come on! Those aren't blanks they're firing!"

Qrow broke over the radio as he gained radar lock, "Shut your mouth and fire back!" He demanded. "Crow Three break off and cover four! Two, you're on me, we'll show them how it's done!"

"Copy, Crow Four engaging!"

"Copy! Crow Three, moving to assist!." Ruby announced as she maneuvered to intercept the tail Yang had picked up.

"Crow Two, engaging!."

"Crow Team, ceasefire at once and return to base!" Huntsman cried out, but his cries fell on deaf ears.

"Can it, motor mouth!" Qrow fired back, "We're not losing any more pilots!"

It wasn't long before Ruby had the first bogey in her sights. Yang continued to jink left and right, desperately trying to shake the pursuer. As she continued to line up the shot, Ruby took study of the enemy, a MiG-21 Fishbed. Ancient fighters from the days of the Great war, and clearly being piloted by an amateur. Tracers spewed from its nose, all missing Yang by a mile.

It didn't take long for the target to lock. "FOX THREE!" Ruby's plane rattled as a sidewinder screamed off the bottom rail, the pilot ahead having no chance. Banking left far too late, the missile struck the MiGs wing, detonating the fuel tank inside and leaving the helpless wreck to fall into the ocean below.

Yang breathed a sigh of relief. A few rounds had struck her wing, but nothing major had been hit.

"Saw you take a couple hits, you alright sis?"

Yang's ears perked at Ruby's voice over the radio, she stuttered as she tried to formulate a response, "Uh, y-yeah! I'm good! Nothing major, think I just got one or two in my wing is all."

"Be careful out here, Yang. I can't babysit you all day up here." Ruby joked as she broke off. Yang was about to argue that comment, but decided to save it for later. 'Babysit _me!?_ Half of the time I still babysit _her!_ ' She shook her head and jumped back into the fight.

However, the battle raged on. It wasn't long before a missile warning pierced through Ruby's ears. Out of pure instinct, she slammed the Tigers yoke forward, dropping her into a sharp dive. The missile veered off harmlessly, but its fighter continued the chase.

"Yang, I've got one on my tail!" Ruby barely called, the g-forces battering her in the harsh maneuver. Yang turned behind her sister's aggressor, trying to put her piper (Gun sight) on the unknown. She had a missile lock, but launching a shot while in a turn would likely be trashed. Instead, Yang pushed on the stick ever-so-slightly and got her planes nose ahead, then launched a volley of bullets.

After a few tracers punched the enemy, a bright flame was seen across the body. The left wing fell off as the plane dropped into the ocean below, a fireball of a wreck. "You babysit me, huh?" Yang joked.

"Oh shut it!" Ruby cried, not letting Yang make anymore jokes. Her earlier comment came to bite her in the butt faster than she could imagine.

Qrow called over the radio, "We got another wave inbound. Everybody, form up!" With that the squad moved towards the next wave of unknowns. The four rejoined formation and headed in the direction of these new enemies, still weary from the sudden shock of open war.

The next wave appeared on radar fast, indicating another formation of MiGs. The agile aircraft was a formidable foe in the last war, and seeing as they're fighting their airborne rival from the same time, it made for an interesting fight. As the next wave came into visual view, a hail of bullets ripped through the sky. The team broke formation in an attempt to break contact. It worked, and the group pulled into attack formation, though scattered.

Yang was the straggler and the enemy pilots knew it. Two jumped on her six and gained radar lock. Yang began a hard left turn in an attempt to break free. She tried calling for help, but the G-forces against her body made it difficult, if not impossible.

"Belladonna!" A familiar voice hailed, "Let's go clear Three's tail!"

"Oh, did the rock 'n roller take the trail position, today?" Qrow asked with a chuckle, "You kids play nice over there, I'm going to teach our resident enemy flight-lead why it's only polite to reply in kind." With that he broke off, leaving Blake and Ruby to handle the other two bogeys on Yang's tail.

"Yang, on my count, fly straight for a moment, then break right, ok?" Ruby called. Neither Yang nor Blake understood where she was going, but they were both intrigued. "Blake, let me know when you have missile lock."

Ruby waited for the tone to sound as she joined in the high-G turn. Blake was finally able to see where Ruby was getting with her plan and internally kicked herself for not thinking of it earlier. Finally Blake heard the high-pitched tone from her radar, indicating that she indeed had a lock. "I got it!" She called.

"Alright, Yang… One… Two… THREE!" With that, Yang broke her turn and flew straight long enough for her teammates to fire a missile at their respective targets. For the two seconds Yang had stayed steady, her two pursuers had followed but hadn't realized how close Ruby and Blake got. Because of that one faux pas, Ruby and Blake were able to get a lock, get close, fire away and destroy them without letting their missiles fly for too long. In an instant Yang's tail was cleared and half of the enemy wave went down.

"Good shot!" Ruby cheered, "Another for the kill record!"

"Hey, don't get ahead of yourself, Kid." Qrow called, "Got one dead in my sights..."

The third MiG flew just past their views, Qrow in hot pursuit. The enemy fighter was clearly without a wingman, and desperately trying to escape the phantom stalking it from behind. In a last ditch effort to turn the tide of the chase, the MiG ahead banked hard left, exactly what Qrow wanted him to do. The cannon mounted on the Phantoms belly spewed hot lead in the Fishbeds path. With no time to react, the pilot flew directly into the fire in front of him. The old aircraft stood no chance, and quickly disintegrated from the stream twenty millimeter rounds.

"...and he is out of this fight. Last one looks to be running, mind taking him out number Three?"

"It would be my pleasure!" Yang affirmed, as she tried to find the last bogey. When she finally found him, it appeared as though he was trying to get away. She sped up and began to pursue. "Almost in range…" She switched to her other weapon, a long ranged air-to-air missile, known as the Sparrow. It's terrific range and accuracy was perfect for this very scenario. She gained lock and pressed the trigger, "Fox three!"

The Sparrow trailed across the sky, it's speed unmatched. In mere seconds it caught up to the retreating bogey. He attempted to juke the missile, but turned the wrong way. The Sparrow ripped through the MiG like a hot knife through cheese… Very explosive cheese… And erupted into a massive fireball.

"Nice work, Crow team. Picture clear, all bandits down." Huntsman declared. "We still have a warning, however! Keep your heads on a swivel!"

"Copy, Huntsman. We'll keep an eye out here, you tell the base to get out here and arrest that boat!" Qrow declared.

"Erm, Copy. We'll get on it." Huntsman stuttered, clearly not used to that type of verbal abuse. "We'll have the team there in a few moments."

The team formed up, but kept a steady distance apart. The radar warning was still going off, which means that somewhere someone had a lock or was trying to attain one. The only problem was that there was no aircraft around…

'Maybe it's not an aircraft.' Ruby thought. She banked her aircraft, her heart nearly stopping at what she saw below.

The enemy submarine was directly under them.

"Oh crap! They're down below, too!" Just as she called a series of flashes came from the back of the vessel, and warning alarms screamed through their helmets. A swarm of almost a dozen missiles raced towards Qrow team, leaving little time to react.

The team broke formation as everyone violently maneuvered, waiting to see if the missiles could be evaded. The projectiles followed their every move, hell bent on bringing down the squadron in one brutal strike.

"Team, deploy countermeasures!" Qrow yelled, not willing to lose the last of his trainees, or family. "Use every last one of them!"

Flares and chaff littered the sky, missiles detonated and deadly shrapnel filled the air. Ruby pulled into a harsh climb before rolling to the left, a missile passing only a few feet by her canopy before detonating harmlessly ahead.

Yang, having used the majority of her countermeasures in the dogfight, had to resort to more drastic maneuvers. Her plane rolled and bucked, the damaged wing rattling with every twist, threatening to fail at any moment. As the effects of G-LOC began to set in, Yang closed her eyes and accepted her fate, ready for the missiles to hit and for everything to end before it even began.

A loud _THUD_ , followed by a harsh shake in the aircraft proved otherwise. Yang peered over the seat, catching a glimpse of the two missiles colliding behind her. "Cr- Crow Thr-Three. I'm clear…" Yang stuttered over the radio, reeling from her second near death experience in only thirty minutes.

"Crow Four, clear as well over here!" Ruby followed up, having dodged the last of her tails. "Damn, two is still in trouble!"

Blake was not so lucky. She broke into a hard right turn, the g-forces weighing her down. She started to turn left, hoping that a swift change in directions would throw her bane off. She wouldn't lose it so easily, however, as the SAMs continued to track her.

Closer and closer it got, with Blake weaving in and out repeatedly in a desperate attempt to lose it. She had begun to accept her fate as she feared she would not lose it. Just as she prepared to take a hit and eject, she noticed something, a flash. She turned around and saw a Phantom behind her, flying the same path as she was. Just then, it broke and dove left, the missile following.

Qrow jumped behind Blake to take the missile lock off of her. He flew into a barrel roll, trying to shake the bastard of a missile behind him, but to no avail. In a flash, a large _BOOM_ was heard, as Qrow's Phantom started trailing smoke. "Captain!" Blake called, trying to see if her flight lead was OK.

"Hey! Cut the waterworks! I'm still here!" Qrow hollered, annoyance in his voice. Whether he was annoyed at the missile he just took, or the circumstances around this whole day was yet to be determined. "Ah, I'm losing thrust and altitude. I think I'm gonna bail out here, not sure how far a Phantom as old as mine without tail wings can go, but I don't want to find out. Scramble the search and rescue teams and prep my spare plane."

"Copy that. Huntsman, did you get that?" Ruby asked.

"Affirmative. Base is currently scrambling."

"Alright, good. Crow One, bailing out!" With that, Qrow's canopy blew open as the rocket beneath his seat turned on, flying him above and away from his doomed craft. His parachute opened and he slowly began to fall to the ocean below.

"Alright everyone, form up on me!" Blake called. She, as Crow Team's number two, was now thrown into leadership. Though deep down she felt out of place. She never was a leader, as much as she wanted to be one. Her teammates, on the other hand, they seemed like leadership material. Ruby more so than Yang.

Speaking of which, the aforementioned pilots formed up to Blake's left and right, keeping up a patrol. The watched as Qrow slowly fell. He seemed like he was flying rather than falling, almost enjoying the parachute ride down.

"Crow team, red alert! Return to base for refit immediately!" AWACS Huntsman called once more. "We have an emergency sortie, all planes are needed!"

"Are you kidding me!? We can't just abandon the captain!" Ruby yelled, wanting to watch over her uncle. Outside of an aircraft, even the most seasoned pilots are vulnerable. Including Qrow.

"Negative! Let the rescue team handle him! The enemy just declared war on us!"

* * *

 **(Karmahhhh) Well that took much longer than we had hoped. But all in all, there it is. The beginning of the war with an unknown enemy**.


End file.
